Jose Benavidez Views Jermall Charlo as the Toughest Fight for David Benavidez
When it comes to David “Red Flag” Benavidez (26-0, 23 KO’s) and WBC middleweight champ Jermall “Hit Man” Charlo (32-0, 22 KO’s), there is a long standing animosity. The feud grew roots and sprouted from the simple seed of a half-cocked call out of Benavidez by Charlo. With his old-school, ‘fight everyone in the room’ mentality, the two-time WBC super middleweight champion popped up quicker than Candy Man when he heard his name. Regrettably, ever since breathing life into this unfulfilled rivalry, Charlo has presented more obstacles than the final round of American Ninja Warrior.
This is doubly-frustrating for Red Flag because he has been unsuccessful in securing sought-after dream fights with arch nemesis Caleb Plant and boxing poster boy Canelo Alvarez. Unable to land those bigger bouts, Benavidez, ranked #1 (WBC) and #2 (WBO), was relegated to the unsavory task of roughing up and beating down veteran fighter David Lemieux. It only took three rounds to kick the Canadian around badly enough for his own corner to throw in the towel.
TOP OF THE HEAP
What’s so ironic about Charlo’s reluctance to deal with the Benavidez situation is Team Benavidez feels the Hit Man is the toughest out on their ‘wish-list’ of opponents. At least that’s what Benavidez’s father and chief second, Jose Benavidez, had to say about it in a recent interview with Fight Hype.
“To be honest, I would say Charlo. He is a very slick fighter, he is a champion for a reason. To me, he is just different. To me, I would think that Charlo would be the hardest fight for us. Even though he is moving up to 168, he’s slick, he hits hard, he has a lot of experience. I just think that he would be the hardest fight.”
Jose Benavidez Sr, chief second of David Benavidez
Let’s hope that sooner rather than later Charlo himself begins to think this way as well and pens this fantastic dustup.
Reading Time: 2 minutes
By: Bakari Simpson
